What the Puck: Canadiens fans in a party mood Friday night go home disappointed

Nobody was in a particularly good mood outside the Bell Centre Friday evening after the Montreal Canadiens lost in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning, forcing Game 7 in Florida on Sunday.

Raymonde Arseneau drove six hours from Boston to see the game with her cousin Monique Rousseau, who had flown in from New Brunswick for Game 6, and both were none too happy to make the trek only to see their beloved Canadiens go down 1-0 to the Bolts. Both are Acadians from New Brunswick. But there was a silver lining for Arseneau — she won the Canadiens 50/50 raffle at the last game of the regular season at the Bell Centre and earlier on Friday she picked up her winnings. A cool $97,550!

“But she’s still sad,” Rousseau said.

Canadiens fans react outside the Bell Centre after the Montreal Canadiens overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, May 1, 2026.

It sounded like Arseneau might almost have given up the money for a Habs win.

“I love the Habs so much and I wanted them to win tonight so badly and I can’t believe they lost,” she said. “It was a huge disappointment. So sad.”

But she still thinks they’ll pull it off on Sunday.

“I know we can do it,” said Arseneau. “We’re going to go there and we’re going to kick friggin’ ass and we’re going to win. I know we can do it.”

Still she admitted it’ll be a long depressing drive home Saturday.

“I’m going to drive home (Saturday) and I know myself, I’m going to cry my heart out,” Arseneau said.

Fans packed the space outside the Bell Centre Friday night to watch Game 6 on a giant screen with their fellow Habs fanatics.

It’s been an absurdly tight, evenly-matched series and Friday night was no exception, with the two teams tied 0-0 after 60 minutes. Gage Concalves finally sealed the deal, getting a couple of whacks at the puck and finally putting it behind Jakub Dobes just over nine minutes into overtime.

No fans were putting an upbeat spin on the bitter loss, but coach Martin St. Louis was, underlining how he takes the power of positive thinking to new levels.

“I loved the game, other than the final score, which was disappointing,” St. Louis said. “It’s meant to be. It’s destiny. That our young team, these 20 players who’ve never played a Game 7, I think it’s part of our journey. And you have to embrace it. So let’s go.”

You have to love that spirit. He believes and you can bet that belief energizes his young players.

Back on the street, folks were down but they too still believe.

Shawn Gorman, a Habs fan from Toronto, was unhappy the Habs lost, but doesn’t believe the team is out.

“They’re too much on the peripheral, they have to take more shots, they have to drive the net,” Gorman said. “Everything was from the outside. If (Andrei Vasilevskiy) sees it, he’s going to save it. I think they’re going to pull (Game 7) off, but they might need a bit of puck luck too. All year they never really lost back-to-back games so I think they’re in a good spot.”

Liam Gorman, Shawn’s son, also thinks they’ll win Sunday.

“We (drove) six hours to come here, so it kind of sucks to see them lose,” Liam said. “I had a good feeling all day that they would win.”

He also thinks whoever wins this series will go to the Cup final.

Alec Standjofsky said he’s thinking they’ll win it Sunday.

“I’m feeling good, hopefully they’ll play a little better than they did tonight,” Standjofsky said.

People in the Fan Jam outside the Bell Centre react Friday night after Tampa scored the winning goal in overtime.

Nathaniel Simonds said he was devastated. But he remains hopeful they’ll win Sunday. He wasn’t that impressed with Friday’s game.

“Tonight we didn’t deserve the win, Tampa dominated the match,” Simonds said. “But Dobes played a hell of a game.”

Matheo Cortez said “of course we’re going to win. It’s not a question in my mind. … I think the Habs will be better in Florida.”

They have been a great road team all year and fans are putting on a brave face. But Game 7s are unpredictable things. Everyone Friday outside the Bell Centre said they thought the Habs will win Sunday, but some of the fans sounded more convinced of this than others.

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